Agnieszka Radwanska reached another final at the Apia Sydney International on Thursday afternoon. The number two dominated the match against Barbora Strycova winning 6-1, 6-2 at Ken Rosewall Arena at Sydney Olympic Tennis Park. It was the seventh win in a row for Radwanska against her opponent remaining flawless on not dropping a set in the tournament.
The world number three has been the dominant form between the two winning the last six meetings against the Czech tennis player. She gained two wins against Strycova last season that both went into three set thrillers with Radwanska becoming the eventual winner. So far the Polish star has been coasting through the tournament winning her second-round start before holding off her opponent in the quarterfinal. As the tournament got deep, the difficulty remained aside from her history against Strycova that one wrong mistake could open the door and create an upset on court.
Radwanska made her presence known taking the first games by storm. The third saw the Czech lose patience letting her frustrations out on her racket before the Polish star took the win by two game points. It turned into a runaway as Radwanska picked up a second break making it very difficult for Strycova to make a response. She somehow got the best of the second seed scoring herself a break in the fifth putting her on the board.
Her service in the sixth came after taking a conference with her coach pushing her to be strong on both sides of her game. Despite all her efforts to keep control, she had moments where she missed her shot letting out screams in response. She ended up losing on serve that quickly put her on the edge of defeat in the set. Radwanska wasted no time putting herself a full set and blasted out the seventh game with a victory that concluded the set in 30 minutes flat.
It didn’t get any better for her starting the second set as her unforced errors rolled right along with her troubles. It led to her keeping the door open for Radwanska to run right through and get another break. It was quickly 2-0 with Strycova letting her frustrations out once more to her racket. The third saw a little more fight in her but the fight for possession remained heavy in Radwanska’s camp. She held off Strycova on four breaks where a line drive on the line ended the Czech’s best shot at starting something in the set.
The world number three continued her dominant march ending the fourth with a tricky drop shot that knocked the Czech further down in confidence. She made something happen on service in the fifth where she battled through a deuce draw with Radwanska. After three breaks, she got the victory that saw applause from the crowds. The 27-year-old took over after and made it a 5-1 rout looking to get the final break of the match. Strycova tried everything to prevent it using all her energy to produce another win. It went her way as Radwanska committed unforced errors that helped the Czech get deeper into the set.
It was put to an end in the seventh with Radwanska reaching two match points before ending the 1 hour and 15-minute match with a smash on the return. “I was so glad that I could play my best game today,” Radwanska said during her on court interview. “I did everything right and just happy to make another final here at Sydney.”
She’ll take on the winner between Johanna Konta and Eugenie Bouchard who she has beaten a combined six times with Bouchard going down four times.
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